Dutton steps between South African farmers and hate

In 2010, the African National Congress was accused of racial hatred. ANC youth league leader Julius Malema performed Ayesaba Amag­wala, which features the lyrics “shoot the boer”. In the South ­African context, boer is generally held to refer to Afrikaners or farmers. AfriForum, a group representing the Afrikaner minority, protested the performance. It provided the ANC with a list of more than 1600 victims of farm attacks. The Daily Maverick reported that the ANC youth league threw the list into a gutter.

ANC lawyers defended Malema, arguing that kill the boer didn’t really mean kill the boer at all. Genocide Watch took a more credible position. It clarified that while the chant was used by the anti-apartheid movement, in the post-apartheid era it has become a vehicle for anti-white race hate. The genocide watchdog said: “Not only did ­revival of the song strike fear into the hearts of Boer farmers, but it has actually been sung during ­attacks on white farmers. It is an incitement to murder white Afrikaner farmers.”

President Jacob Zuma singing a variation of shoot the boer in Bloemfontein early 2012 during a celebration by the African National Congress. Just lefties having fun. They don’t mean it. Nothing to see here.

Those who suggest Dutton erred in identifying South Africa’s white farmers as a persecuted group should consider the ­extreme nature of racial hatred they endure. AfriForum reported that the South African government decided to “deprioritise farm murders” in 2007, despite its own commission of inquiry finding there were 1254 farm murders and 6122 farm attacks between 1991 and 2001. Paul Toohey’s ­recent reports for news.com.au brought the issue to the fore. He described the farm attacks as ­“abnormally cruel”. There are many survivor testimonies that detail the horrific torture inflicted on victims. An old woman tortured with a drill. A father broken bone-by-bone in front of his family. People burned, raped, tortured and murdered slowly. …

South Africa’s parliamentary and public debates on land expropriation are framed in racial terms. White farmers are cast as the oppressors and blacks as the ­oppressed. The parliamentary motion on land expropriation was moved by the socialist Economic Freedom Fighters party. Its leader is Julius “shoot the boer” Malema. In a parliamentary address on the subject, Malema described farmers as “the criminals who stole our land”. …

The hostility against white people in South Africa is becoming more pronounced. This month Malema targeted a dissenter from his parliamentary motion on farm expropriation, Democratic Alliance member Athol Trollip. Africa’s news24 ­reported that Malema ­declared to a packed arena his plans to ­remove Trollip because he “is a white man”. Malema said: “Go after a white man … we are starting with this whiteness. We are cutting the throat of whiteness.” That is the language of genocide.